[SOLVED] Been out of the loop for a couple of years, quick question about "now or later" upgrades

TechLogic

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Jul 29, 2013
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So I've budgeted about $700-900 to upgrade my PC, everything but the PSU and GPU is being replaced. I've done a bit of research but am still unsure as to whether or not I should go ahead and upgrade or wait another 6 months or so.

Current system is:
i5 3570k
12Gb DDR3
Strix 1080Ti
Seasonic 650w 80+ Gold

I run a PG279Q 1440p @ 144Hz

Thinking about an i7 9700k , 16Gb DDR4 (a new SSD and a few other ancillaries), really the main question is anything significant on the near horizon that I need to consider? Any recommendations as far as a 2020 build goes in this range? Apologies for the vagueness, what else do you need to know?

TIA
 
Solution
Intel is no longer where its at, ,the AMD-3700X beat the 9700K for less money in games. the i9-9900K barely eeks out a win against the 3800X, but for far more cash, and only by burning 480 watts for the CPU alone, threatening not top-end ($$$) motherboards with fire

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($309.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 GAMING X ATX AM4 Motherboard ($154.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Patriot Viper Steel 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3733 Memory ($97.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX500 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($107.99 @ B&H)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11 GB STRIX GAMING Video Card ($0.00)...
Intel is no longer where its at, ,the AMD-3700X beat the 9700K for less money in games. the i9-9900K barely eeks out a win against the 3800X, but for far more cash, and only by burning 480 watts for the CPU alone, threatening not top-end ($$$) motherboards with fire

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor ($309.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 GAMING X ATX AM4 Motherboard ($154.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Patriot Viper Steel 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3733 Memory ($97.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX500 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($107.99 @ B&H)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11 GB STRIX GAMING Video Card ($0.00)
Case: Rosewill Tyrfing V2 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($94.99 @ B&H)
Total: $815.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-02-04 15:14 EST-0500


I keep your existing 1080ti, which should run 1440p gaming just fine., I replace your power supply just on age
 
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Solution

TechLogic

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Jul 29, 2013
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@ScrewySqrl This info is very helpful I will look into your parts list, some fresh recommendations are what I needed! I get stuck overthinking the same parts over and over.

@King_V No it's a Seasonic G Series I bought in 2013 lol, zero issues ever though! I'll seriously consider the M2, I hadn't really looked into NVMe as I don't really know much about them vs a standard SSD.
 

King_V

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Hm, I can't speak to the G series - I simply know nothing about them.

As for SATA vs NVMe - well, about a year ago, I didn't know much either! The simple bit:
  • All 2.5" SSDs that are connected with a SATA cable are, well, SATA.
  • SSDs that go into the M.2 slot can be either:
    • SATA protocol
    • NVMe protocol
M2 slots on a given motherboard might support:
  • SATA only
  • NVMe only
  • Both
For SATA, the only major reason to use an M2 vs a 2.5" unit is if you want the space savings/no cable clutter. My view is that it's best to use an NVMe drive in the M2 slot.

SATA is limited to approximately 550-ish or so MB/s reads and writes, because of what the SATA design maxes out at. SATA was, when first created, designed with HDDs in mind.

NVMe is generally faster. They depend on PCIe version, with the drive itself supporting a certain speed based on that version:
  • PCIe 2.0 - around 1800 MB/s max
  • PCIe 3.0 - around 3500 MB/s max
  • PCIe 4.0 - around 6000ish (?) MB/s max (only on X570 AM4 motherboards thus far, not a huge number of drives for it just yet)
Granted, in normal home use and gaming use, you're probably not going to notice a whole lot of difference casually between the two - but since the prices are around the same, why not take advantage of the better speed that you get in some circumstances.
 
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TechLogic

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Jul 29, 2013
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@King_V Thanks for clearing that up for me!!

On a similar note, I am starting to scratch my head on the X470 cs X570 debate...I'm just now looking into AMD as an optipon, and it seems like a lot of contradictory opinions on the subject. Care to weigh in? or maybe you too @ScrewySqrl ?
 

King_V

Illustrious
Ambassador
Honestly, I'd probably go with a B450 board, making sure that whatever board you choose has got the BIOS upgrade to support the 3000-series processors. They typically should say Ryzen 3000 ready on the boxes.

Assuming your primary use is typical home use and gaming, there's no real need for the high end X series motherboards. The X570 will allow for PCIe 4.0 - but again, the speed benefits you might see from the even faster (and more expensive) PCIe 4.0 capable SSDs won't be enough in normal usage.

There are specific types of workloads that WILL see the full benefit, but I don't recall what those use cases are.
 
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Basically, the combination of a 3000-series (3600, 3700, 3800, 3900) CPU and an X570 board gives you PCIe 4.0 on the board, making it the best choice for future upgrades, though right now the only significant part that exploits PCIe 4.0 is the RX 5x00 series graphics cards (RX 5500, 5600XT, 5700, 5700XT).

an X470 or B450 may require a bios update to run a 3000-series CPU.

As your PSU is from 2013, and this is 7 years old now, I'd still replace it just on age. It might work, but why risk new parts on a 7 year old power supply?